Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
On Monday, Michel Picard goes into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame.
But go back more than 35 years to Binghamton, New York. Picard, a ninth-round draft pick by the Hartford Whalers breaking into the AHL, went through one of the toughest possible experiences a rookie could have. His 1989-90 Binghamton Whalers went 11-60-9, setting ignominious AHL records for fewest wins and most losses in an 80-game season.
And it got increasingly worse as the season wore on, with the Whalers winning just four of their final 40 games. They finished with a 20-game winless streak.
For a 20-year-old Picard, it was a respectable season personally with 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 67 games. And the painful campaign provided lessons that that Picard could absorb early in his career. It got better. Much better.
In the ensuing offseason, Hartford affiliated with the nearby Springfield Indians. Future AHL Hall of Fame defenseman John Stevens came over from Hershey and brought a new level of intensity to the roster. Jimmy Roberts, coming off a Calder Cup championship leading Springfield as a New York Islanders affiliate, returned to the Indians.
Picard’s work earned him a recall to Hartford, and he scored in his NHL debut on Nov. 29, 1990, at Pittsburgh. For his third NHL game, the Quebec native skated against the Canadiens at the Forum. And the season ended with Picard and his Springfield teammates lifted the Calder Cup. Picard had delivered a league-leading 56 regular-season goals and took a spot on the AHL First All-Star Team.
“Jimmy Roberts was the key to our Calder Cup,” Picard stated. “Jimmy made me a better athlete. He believed in me. The spirit, the atmosphere, Jimmy made us believe, and it was fun going to the rink.”
In the next four years, the ups and downs continued. He made the Whalers roster out of camp in 1991 and played for the first time against the Nordiques at Le Colisée, just 10 minutes from his hometown of Beauport. Then he was acquired by San Jose and battled through another trying season in 1992-93, making 25 appearances for a Sharks team that won 11 of 84 games.
In 1993-94, he scored 41 goals in the regular season and another 11 in 17 playoff games, helping Barry Trotz’s Portland Pirates to the Calder Cup.
“Barry Trotz was the same type of head coach as Jimmy Roberts,” Picard explained. “He had that same type of presence in the locker room that everybody wanted to play for him. And we did. We did.
“Those years you don’t forget.”
What’s more, Picard, now a two-time AHL champion, hadn’t even reached his most accomplished landing spot. After two seasons with the Prince Edward Senators, where he posted 69 goals and 171 points in 112 games, he went to the Grand Rapids Griffins, a 1996 expansion team in the former International Hockey League. He played four seasons in Grand Rapids, and saw time in the NHL with St. Louis and Edmonton. Picard spent the 2000-01 season in Philadelphia with the Phantoms and Flyers before spending a season in Germany, then returned for two more years in Grand Rapids, by now a member of the AHL. He skated five seasons playing semi-pro hockey back in Quebec before officially retiring in 2009.
To this day, Picard is tied for 36th in AHL history with 638 points, and his 283 goals rank 28th all-time. His 71 playoff points are tied for 23rd while his 37 postseason goals tie him for 37th. He had two nods as a First Team AHL All-Star and two more on the Second Team. His 158 goals, 222 assists and 380 points all top the Griffins’ franchise leaderboard, and he also finished with 166 NHL appearances. The Griffins retired his number 7 in 2022.
Picard made the move into scouting with St. Louis in 2009 and he’s still there, having helped to build the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup championship team and having held roles as an amateur scout and director of European scouting.
Put all of those numbers, honors, and achievements aside, though, and Picard is really just a hockey lifer, someone grateful to have been able to build a post-playing career role in the sport.
“I’m very, very, very lucky to have that job,” Picard said of his role with the Blues. “I’m very happy.”
Picard thinks back to 2001 when he had an opportunity to stay with the Philadelphia organization. Instead he signed to play overseas, a decision that he says helped him realize that even at an older age and with less of a chance to compete for NHL time, the American Hockey League provided him a chance to mentor, to teach young teammates how to really become a pro. Just like he had to do when he went through that grueling rookie season.
“It was not me,” Picard said bluntly of his season in Europe. “My league was the American Hockey League. If I could play again tomorrow, I would, you know what I mean? I love it so much.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.